kingdome and keepe it from reigning in our mortall bodie Saint Augustine therefore addeth a fourth degree of sinne and that is the vse and custome of sinning The three first degrees of sinne may easily be resisted but if it once come to the fourth and grow to a custome it will hardly if euer be remoued Consâ—â—tâ—dinem vincere dura pugna It is hard to ouerthrow a custome saith the same Father For custome makes the face impudent we blush not to sinne the heart senselesse we feele not our sinne our sinne tyrannous our mortall body is ruled by sinne For though sinne it selfe he a tyrant yet custome will set a sharper edge vpon it Custome is a monstrous tyrant it rules both Church and Common-wealth staâ— pre ratione volum as if it be customes pleasure that it must be so it shall be so Law will not controule it sufferance hath made it aboue all law Saint Augustine in his fourth booke and 24 Chapter De doctrinâ Christianâ tells 〈◊〉 that the people of Casâ—â—ea had an ancient custome once a yeare for certain dayes together to meet and diuide themselues into parts and throw stones one at another the father not sparing the sonne nor the sonne the father Which custome though it were a most barbarous custome and yearely the occasion of the slaughter of many men yet Saint Augustine whom we count the most learned and eloquent of all the Fathers found it an exceeding hard matter to disswade them from their custome â—gi quidum granditèr quantâ—â—â— valui I dealt with them saith â—e with all the might and maine I could But let vs come home to our selues It was taken vp for a custome for Carriers and Drouers to labour themselues and their cattell vpon the Lords day Which custome though it were expresly against the Commandement of God and for aboue sixty yeares together daily cried out against by zealous Preachers in their Pâ—lpits yet it continued and looked the Law in the face till the Parliament made a penall Statute to reforme it And if we should come yet nearer and take a suruey of personall sinnes we shall finde them by custome and habite made as hard to be cast off as locall and nationall sinnes For Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati in alteram naturam vertitur The custome of sinning quite bereaues vs of all sense and feeling of our sinnes and is changed into another nature The common swearer makes it a matter of nothing to thunder out a multitude of â—oulevgly oathes together nay the more mouth they giue their oathes the more gentleman-like grace they thinke their oathes giue them Like Saint Augustines companions of his youth Tanto gloriantes magis quantâ— sunt turpes magis Glorying in that most whereof if they had any grace they should be ashamed most Nay I haue knowne some whom the custome of swearing hath carried so head-long to sweare that they know not when they sweare so that being reproued for their swearing they would presently sweare they did not sweare The common drunkard whilest he swallowes his liquor is so swallowed himselfe that no remorse for his sinne appeareth in him he puts on a whâ—res face â—â—d refuseth to be ashamed Ierem. 3. 3. He riseth early to pâ—â—ire in strong drinke as Esay speaketh Hee thinkes there is no kindnesse where there is no drunkennesse and makes one drunkennesse a medicine to cure the distemper of another and professeth that nothing but a haire of the same dogge can allay the distemper of his dog-like appetite Oh to what an height of impietie doth euill custome bring men It makes a man Peccare quasi pecucare So to sinne that he degenerates and becomes a beast in his sinne as Iunius obserues I could shew you the like of gluttony and luxurie so that Pope Iulius the third being by his Physitians for his health sake forbidden porke missing it one day at his table gluttony made him reproue his serâ—â—â— and command him to fetch him porke for saith hee I care not what the Physitian saith I will eat porke in dispight of God himselfe And Ioannes à Pisa Archbishop of Beneuentum and the Popes Nâ—â—cio for Veâ—ice wrote a booke and printed it in commendation of that sin that I tremble to name that sin for the reigning of which in Sodome the Lord rained vpon them brimstone and fire from heauen and consumed them But let these examples teach you how hard a thing it is to remoue and alter an euill custome Can the Aethiâ—pian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Euen so may they doe good that are accustomed to doe euill saith the Prophet Ier. 13. 23. O then beloued if you will preuent sinne of his kingdome preuent the custome of sinning so you shall keepe sinne from reigning in your morâ—all body Let not sinne reigne therefore c. But you must remember that I told you that this was but vltimum refugium a last refuge and a last refuge is to be embraced only when our case growes desperate The best and safest way then to suppresse sinne is to deale with him in the first or second degree thereof Nay in the very first â—ustfull motions we must crush this cockatrice in the shell and make out lusts and suggestions like the vntimely fruit of a womâ—n which perishâ—th ere it see the Sunne Psal â—8 7. For lusts are the lawes of sinne and if you would not haue sinne reigne ouer you you must not obey the lawes thereof Therefore saith Saint Paul Let not sinne reigne in your mortall body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof So that as sinne is to be suppressed so his lawes which are his lusts must not be obeyed Obey not the lusts thereof And this leads me by the hand to the second part of my Text that the lawes of sinne must not be obeyed Obey not the lusts thereof 2. Obey not the lusts thereof DRaco the Athenian Law-giuer made such cruell Lawes that Solon abrogated them and Demades the Orator said that Sanguine non atramento scribebantur They were written in bloud not in inke But wee haue more need to abrogate the lawes of sinne and it may be more truly said of Lusts these lawes that they are written in bloud not in inke For lusts the lawes of sinne are not barren lusts but they are teeming and conceiuing lusts Lusts if they be obeyed bring forth sinne and sinne finisheth his worke with nothing but death so saith S. â—ames When lust hath conceiued it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Iam. 1. 15. And S. Paul saith that The wages of sinne is death Rom. 6. 23. Lusts the beginning are deceitfull sinne the progresse hatefull death the conâ—lusion dreadfull For six malis praemissis nunquam colligi potest bona conclusio Out of so ill premises can neuer be gathered a good conclusion Iesus therefore the sonne of
imputed vnto him For as when wee walke abroad in the fields to take the aire ye cannot hinder the Fowles thereof from flying and houering ouer our heads but we may well hinder them from roosting building and making their nests there Euen so as long as wee liue in this vale of miserie clad with these weeds of mortalitie this bodie of ours wee cannot chuse but haue sinne houering vp and downe in vs but we may chuse whether we will let it roost there wee may chuse whether we will let it build and make his nest there to rule and domineere in our mortall bodie therefore the Apostle here in my Text saith Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodie that you should obey it in the lusts thereof In which Text I shall commend three things to your obseruation 1. Here is a King described by his reigning namely Sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let not sinne therefore reigne 2. Here are his lawes declared by obeying viz. his lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you should obey it in the lusts thereof 3. Here is his Kingdome specified by the place where he would reigne viz. your mortall bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in your mortall bodie For Peccatum velut sedem quandam solium regni sui in nostro corpore collocatum habet saith Origen Sinne hath as it were the fear and throne of his kingdome in our mortall bodie In all which there is such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disorder that this Common-wealth cannot stand long 1. The King he is insulting it is Sinne which at first got footing in Adam a little new inspired slime of the earth and by that wound it selfe into all the men of the earth 2. The kingdome that 's decaying it is your perishing mortall bodie which as soone as it hath life and being tends to dissolution and not being Like apples of Sodom a touch turnes it into dust and ashes 3. Lastly the lawes they are vnlawfull they are lusts Quicquid libet licet What it lusteth that it willeth Here is aliud ex alio malum Disorder vpon disorder A wilfull king a rufull kingdome and hatefull lawes S. Paul therefore the Embassadour of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords teacheth vs in my Text how to order this disorder and how to deale with each of these 1. Sinne must be suppressed and kept from reigning Let not sinne reigne therefore 2. Lusts the lawes they must not be obeyed obey it not in the lusts thereof 3. Your mortall bodie the kingdome that must bee repaired and of â—uinate decaying mortall bodies you must make your selues strong and liuely bodies For so it followeth in the verse after my Text. Neither yeeld your members as instruments of vnrighteâ—usnesse vnto sinne but yeeld your selues vnto God as those that are aliue from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousnesse vnto God And of these three in their order And first of sin that he must be suppressed Let not sinne reigne c. Let not sinne reigne therefore IT is the Parable of Iotham in the ninth of Iudges that of all the trees the Bramble that base hedge creeping shrub would needs take vpon it to be King So of all that mans nature is incident vnto sinne that base deprauitie of nature must needs take vpon him to be king and to reigne in our mortall body Nay that will not content him to reigne as a king but he will make hauocke of all like a tyrant For Sin is the greatest tyrant that euer the world had Other tyrants though monstrously raging killed but some persons Nero killed his mother that bare him and his Master Seneca that taught him he burnt the Citie of Rome that was vnder his soueraignty obeyed him but these are but petty slaughters in respect of those which sinne makes For that spares none it killed all those that liued before vs it will kill all vs that are now liuing and all that euer shall be borne after vs. It is good therefore to keepe our selues free-men from being slaues to so hauocke-making a Tyrant Let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortall bodie that you should obey it in the lusts thereof No man would be willing to serue a Master how great a Prince soeuer he were that when his seruant had spent his youthfull yeares cripled his sturdie limbs and wasted his plentifull estate in his seruice and comes for his reward will draw his sword and kill him surely none would be willing to receiue their pay in such crackt coine but sinne dealeth so with vs when we haue yeelded all the powers and faculties of our-soules and the members of our bodies to be commanded by sinne what 's the reward he giues vs but death so saith the Apostle in the last verse of this Chapter The wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Those then which neglect the seruice of God and giue themselues ouer to the tyrannous subiection of sinne are like the perfidious Iewes who reiected Christ the giuer of life and desired Barabas a murderer to be giuen them Matth. 27. 21. Let vs therefore shake off the murthering yoke of sinne and by true and heartie repentance send a messenger of defiance vnto it saying with those citizens in the Gospell Nolumus hunc regnare super nos We will not haue this man we will not haue sinne reigne ouer vs. And as Origen exhorts vnusquisque pessimum regem regnantem in suâ carne depellat Let euery man expell this euill king reigning in his flesh Let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortall bodie Now Kings as the Politickes teach vs doe ordinarily obtaine their rule two wayes either by Succession and so are Kings as it were naturally or Election and so are Kings adoptiuely but this king sinne because he would be sure to be king some way claimes the rule of our mortal body both these wayes both by succession and election But his title of succession hath beene found weake long agoe That indeed shewes his antiquitie how Lucifer begot him when he was cast out of heauen That indeed shewes that hee hath free-hold of inheritance in our mortall body but truly no Lord to command it or King to rule it Elect him not therefore for your King so you shall preuent him of his kingdome so you shall keepe him from reigning in your mortall body Let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortall body And that you may not elect him you must know that as there are three things concurring to the election of a politicall King 1 Nomination 2 Consultation 3 Consent or Approbation So this spirituall King sinne comes to his kingdome by three steps For as S. Gregery obserues there are three degrees in sin 1 Suggestion offered by the Deuill 2 Delight administred by the flesh 3 Consent yeelded by our reason The first
Syrach saith that we must flie from sinne tanquam à facie colubri as from the face of a Serpent for if thou commest too neere 〈◊〉 it will bite thee the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a Lyon â—â—aying the soules of men Ecclus. 21. 2. We must flie from sinne as from the face of a serpent For as in the face of a serpent lieth all the danger because there is the poyson and the teeth so in obeying of lusts which are the faces and first appearings of sin we shall swell with the poyson of sin and be bitten with the teeth of death Or wee must flie from sinne 〈◊〉 from the face of a serpent that is from the heads and first lustfull motions of sinne A serpent hath a head a taile and a bodie Capite immisso totus statim illabitur And if she get her head into a place the whole bodie is so glib and â—ubricke that it will quickly enter in after So in yeelding to lusts which are the heads of sinne the whole bodie of sinne will quickly follow after For lusts the heads of sinne though they seeme small yet they will make no small worke where they enter They are like young rogues who getting their heads in at the windowes creepe in and open the doores for the great theeues to spoile the house For lusts the heads of sinne are not idle heads but like Iesuites heads working mischeeuous heads contriuing treason against the state both of soule and bodie Lusts will hatch sinne sinne will produce death and death will bring a thousand endlesse woes and miseries Now our lusts are many our acts of sinne many and the deaths produced by sinne and the lusts thereof as many Miâ—â—e â—â—dis homines miserâ—s mors â—na fâ—rigâ—â— Death assayes men a thousand wayes But death in generall produced by sinne and his lusts is threefold Viz. Mors 1. Corporis The death of the bodie 2. Anima The death of the soule 3. Corporis anima The death of both 1. The death of the bodie So dead was Laâ—arus Iohn 11. 2. The death of the soule So dead are such widdowes whereof S. Paul speaketh 1 Tim. 5. 6. So dead was hee to whom out Sauiour Christ said Let the dead burie their dead follow thou mee Matth. 8. 22. A strange speech Let the dead burie their dead As if the dead had not as much need to be buried themselues as to burie other dead and as vnable to burie other dead as themselues But our Sauiour Christ meant it of those which followed sinne and not him being via vita veritas The way the life and the truth that they were dead alreadie in their soules that in them as Theophylact speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their liuing bodies were nothing else but coffins of their dead carrion stincking soules 3. The death both of bodie and soule So was Diues Luk. 16. He prayed therefore he had a soule Hee had a tongue to be cooled therefore a bodie He was dead therefore dead both in bodie and soule Thus die all they that suffer sinne to reigne in their mortall bodie Nay they are not onely dead but buried while they liue Their sinnes become their graues Tumulusiste mali mores saith S. Ambrose Their throat is an open sepulcher saith the Prophet Dauid Psal 14. 5. Nay they are not onely dead and buried but they are dead and buried and in hell whilst they liue Nobiscum videntur vinere sed sunt in infernâ— saith S. Ambrose They seeme to liue with vs but in verie deed they are in hell For where are presumptuous sinners but where the Deuill is that first presumed to sinne And where is hell but where the Deuill is that was without redemption cast out of Heauen O then my beloued take heed of going on in wickednesse nip sinne in the bud yeeld not obedience to the lusts of sin Lusts are the iawes of sinne and the king reignes where his lawes are obeyed Lusts will goe on to acts acts will goe on to custome custome will goe on to the death and destruction both of bodie and soule For God will wound the hairie scalpe of such as goe on still in their wickednesse Psal 68. 21. The sinner goes on in his sinnes and God goes on to punish their sinnes sinne followes sinne and one death followes another The second death followes the first the death of the bodie begins and the death of both bodie and soule followes after The death of the bodie is cum anima deserit corpus when the soule forsakes the bodie and is by order naturall statutum est omnibus c. It is decreed for all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. The death of the soule is cum animam descrit Deus when God forsakes the soule and is by diuine Iustice iudiciall the soule that sinneth shall die Ezech. 18. 4. The death of both bodie and soule is cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus when God forsakes the soule and the soule forsaken of God forsakes the bodie and is by equalitie proportionall For both bodie and soule haue sinned therefore they both die both are punished Qui iâ—â—guntur in culpâ non separantur in poenâ saith S. Cyprian Those that are partners in the fault must also bee partners in the punishment for the fault But yet a man may so die the first that he may escape the other death Hee may so die that he may repaire the ruines of his mortall bodie and not die for euer For as a ruinous house though the wals bee fallen downe and the roofe perished may by reparation be sustained and be made more beautifull than at first so long as the maine and principall posts thereof are kept sound So this mortall bodie of ours though it be ruinous and the fleshy walls falling downe and the thatch of the roofe thereof decaying with hoatie haires yet so long as the principall pillars thereof bee not pulled downe as Samson did the house vpon the Philistins that is so long as the members of our bodie the pillers thereof are not yeelded as instruments of vnrighteousnesse vnto sinne to let sinne reigne but yeelded as those that are aliue from the dead as instruments of righteousnesse vnto God and sinne suppressed wee may repaire this mortall bodie and make it more beautifull than before Corruption putting on incorruption and mortalitie putting on immortalitie death being swallowed vp in victorie O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victorie 1 Cor. 15. 44 45. And this leads me by the hand to the last part of my text to speake of the kingdome our mortall bodie and the repairing thereof Let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortall bodie 3. In your mortall bodie ANd here by our mortall bodie we must not vnderstand onely our lumpe of flesh part of man but totum